Monday, November 08, 2004

blast from ze past

Was trolling the Internet today and stumbled on an old post of mine on Prevue Magazine's forum for High Concept plotlines. 'Twas the summer of 2001, when I decided to sit in two film courses offered at the LCC by Paul Young, a great charismatic enthusiastic teacher whose vim was responsible for the extended lifecycle of the CAN film group at Georgia Tech (Paul has since moved on to hopefully better pastures). Anyways, one of the classes was dedicated to Alfred Hitchcock and the other was an introduction to film studies. The session du jour was film genres, and examples of films that transcended and straddled genres. This plot was my contribution to a group discussion that ensued. Juvenile post-modernism, if you will, but it still reeks of potential;)

He's the Sheriff

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a Vietnam vet who wanders into a frontier town. His accent and build immediately make him a target for scorn and the butt of numerous jokes. A buddy bond develops between him and the town drunk. He manages to get the town drunk sober and in return learns the ways of the west from him. Numerous trip-laden montage sequences serve to communicate his traumatic past in the jungles and also show us how heroic he was even then, risking his life to feed a dying soldier his last peanut butter sandwich. Back to the present, Arnie finally wins over the town, when he overthrows the town sheriff in a classic showdown. Supported by Rob Scheider as the town drunk, Jim Carrey as the mute deputy and Julianne Moore as the town sheriff. Cameos by Clint Eastwood and Robert Downey Jr. Written by: Joe Eszterhas. Directed by: Alan Smithee.